4/21/1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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M W . M disputes before going to the court system because he believed there will be cases where there are extenuating circumstances and people who cannot a€f ord to pay an attorney to f ight it. He f elt a better approach would be to cut down the delay time and stay with the present system. There would be far greater delays by going to the County Court system. Chairman Eggert understood that a general violation citation could go either through the procedure that it goes through now with the Code Enforcement Board or go through County Court, but wanted it made clearer on how that is decided. Mr. DeBlois explained that the resolution of fines does not include all types of violations of county codes. Staff has honed it down to 70 violations that are considered straight forward, such as an illegal banner. Every effort was made to have a type of resolution that can be resolved by simple action. on a short-term basis. Director Keating stressed that every day they are faced with making interpretations and administrative judgments and what is being proposed here is just to formalize as much as possible in a set of internal policies that we intend to be used by field personnel as a differential aide. Attorney Garris felt that instead of it being included in some administrative procedure in the county, the ordinance should be worded so that the people will know their rights. County Attorney Charles Vitunac pointed out that the proposed ordinance is copied from a State law already in effect which has worked well in other counties. He understood from Director Keating that we will not put it into effect, policy -wise, until all the rules are in effect. If the Board wishes, that could come before them for approval. Commissioner Scurlock felt we should have the whole package in order to make the best decision. Chairman Eggert assumed that things can continue the way they are unless someone specifically says they want to take the alternative of going to County Court. As it stands now, the violator has the right to appeal to Circuit Court after the Code Enforcement Board. Commissioner Bowman suggested that the Code Enforcement Board meet twice a month rather than once in order to cut down the 60-120 day process, but Director Keating explained that we have instituted a special master now who can individually hold a hearing on a case if it needs to be moved up sooner. Right now we use him primarily on notices to appear. Commissioner Bird didn't believe there is anything wrong with the system down to the point where the citation is issued, but he 19 Ur. APR 2J 1992